Srikanth, Sameer knocked out

GWANGJU (KOREA): Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma crashed out of the Korea Masters after suffering straightgame defeats in their respective second round clashes here on Thursday.

Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama, who was facing Srikanth for the first time, defeated the sixth-seeded Indian 21-14, 21-19 in just 37 minutes. Tsuneyama took the first game comfortably, winning six consecutive points at one stage to surge ahead of Srikanth.

The Indian failed to threaten in the second game as well, conceding a four-point lead to the Japanese. He failed to recover from that and eventually got knocked out of the tournament. The 26-year-old has struggled for form since reaching the final of the India Open in March.

Meanwhile, Sameer also lost his Round-of-16 duel, going down to South Korea’s Kim Donghun 19-21, 12-21 in 39 minutes. With the losses, the Indian challenge comes to an end in Korea.